Report of the trip from Moscow to North Cape June 2008.

Preparation for this trip seems easy, but there are things that are very difficult to organize. We need to be tuned in with the Holy Spirit and keep on submitting the attacks of the spirit of humanism (the conviction that we can do it ourselves) to the Spirit of God.

The bookings for the hotels gave some trouble, applying for the visum didn’t work through the travel- and visum agency. Finally we are literally waiting two hours before a closed door of the Russian Consulate in The Hague, with a hand full of papers and forms like the health care insurance and travel insurance papers translated into English. But we keep being tuned in with God and one week later we were able to get the visum from the Consulate.

We sent an email and letter, to the new Russian president with the request to pray for him and the nation and to bless him. We never got a response from him or the government. But he turns out to be present on one of the days we are praying at the Red Square. Or like the Norwegian businessman told us later: ‘although he was not there for you, you were there for him.’

Before leaving we send different e-mails to the people in our supportgroup who are praying for our mission. They give us several encouragements and shared the visions they received from the Lord. We now go in this journey, as it were, to the head of the cross. Here is the sign: Jesus is King.
We receive the scripture from Acts 2 that God’s fire and his Father’s heart may come in Europe (the Northern country) again.

 

Day of departure: June 19th 2008
Scripture of the Day: Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

We need to keep our focus and stay alert during this last part of the mission to finish the shape of the cross. At 3:00am in the morning we wake up to leave for the airport. Again we have some obstacles and delays. It takes us double the amount of time than usual. At the airport we also have some difficulties with our electronic tickets.

At the airport we pray for our trip in the prayerroom. In the airplane we sit next to a young man that is fascinated by our mission and he is asking some more questions about our mission. We give him the business card so he can read our weblog. Then we arrive in Moscow. Some difficulty again with finding the taxi (we already paid for). Finally we arrive at the hotel, where we had to change our time with +2 hours.

Friday June 20th 2008
Scripture of the day: Isaiah 29:13, 14 The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”

This is a huge promise for the nation. Today we go to the Kremlin to proclaim the scriptures there while walking around the walls; First the letter to the church in Colosse and then the complete letter to the Hebrews. The route map gives us some difficulty because it only uses the Russian language for the main roads. The rest is in the Latin alphabet. But after walking for an hour we arrive at the place we need to be.
In and around the Kremlin are many churches in full glittering and many colors with golden domes.

The Kremlin is the governmental center of the nation. Parliament, government and president are located there. Further more there are several historical places like museums and the mausoleum of Lenin. This all is bordered by an old red wall. The shapes are three straight pieces of one kilometer each. We walk across the Red Square, which is named after the Cathedral there, that has the red color. There we really feel that the spirit of humanism and power thinking is present. Our proclaiming of the scriptures takes us more than two hours. With a total walk of about four hours to complete it all. It’s physically heavy and we have some muscle ache.

By returning at the hotel we want to inform our prayergroup through the weblog www.samenindenaamvanjezus.nl. But we don’t get the connection working to get contact  with them. Even by phone it doesn’t work.

Saturday June 21st 2008
Scripture of the day: Jeremiah 29:7-9 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the LORD.

Today we go to the Red Square, as said before it’s named after the beautiful (later red) cathedral. We walk another way so we get to know the way to the church, which we want to attend coming Sunday: Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Jesus is our Saviour. We start to understand the Russian signs. The church is Russian Orthodox. Tomorrow there is a service at 10:00am.

We continue to the Red Square. We mark the area by proclaiming the books of Galatians, Ephesians and Philippians completely. It’s a call to return to the original explanation of the Faith.
It’s very busy at the square. There is a long line before the mausoleum of Lenin. We bless the people.

People notice us. One man comes to us and asks in poor English: ‘Do you read the Bible?, well then you probably don’t have any interest in Lenin!’ We confirm this. An approving smile and word is his response. The man moves on. This is a kind confirmation and encouragement from God. We resist the temptation to visit one of the historical places. In the center of the Red Square we end with proclaiming John 17, the High priestly prayer.

We notice that the spirit of indifference is heavily weighing on us, which makes it very hard for us to keep focused on the goal. We tune in to God again by clothing ourselves with the spiritual armor. Also we decide to not watch the soccer match Russia vs. The Netherlands. Back at the hotel we try to make contact again with our prayergroup through the weblog. It doesn’t work, still, but this time we do get contact by phone. At the hotel we also feel the spirit of Humanism strongly. But with perseverance we keep on focusing on God. Our plane from Oslo to Moscow is confirmed again by now.

Sunday June 22nd 2008
Scripture of the day: Jeremiah 31: 33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Again a promise from God to renew the hearts of the people and to come to his Fatherheart. Today we first go to the church: Jesus the Saviour. Afterwards we go to the Red Square to make the shape of the cross: first straight shaped and later diagonally across the square.

At the corners of the square we will proclaim the following gospels: Matthew 27 and 28, Mark 15 and 16, Luke 23 and 24 and John 19 and 20. At the ends of the cross: 1 Corinthians 13, God’s love.
In the center point of the cross we proclaim John 17, High priestly prayer and the Lord’s prayer. This for empowering God’s authority in this place.

We leave at 9:00am and walk to the church, where there is a Russian Orthodox service. There is much symbolism but also a strong presence of the anointing. Everything is in Russian, but we are totally in the Spirit. Afterwards we go to the Red Square. By now it’s 11:30am.

The square is completely locked down to our surprise. It turns that there is a memorial for the fallen people in the second world war and that the Russian president Demetrev is there too. It’s pretty cold and rain seems to come. We decide to wait till they open up the square again. After waiting for two and a half hours we think about going back to the hotel and go to the Red Square the next morning. We are already on our way when we suddenly see some soldiers leaving the place. The Red Square is accessible for public again. This way we still can proclaim and pray for another 1.5 hours and finish everything according plan. At the end we bless the square with God’s love, walking to make the shape of the cross, diagonally. This way we give everyone present there God’s life-giving word. The people will spread this further. We clearly experience the presence of God’s spirit and His heart. His word will be written in the hearts of the people. It dawns on us that a yoke is taken from us. And all at a sudden the people are much more friendly.
It’s past 4:00pm when we arrive back at the hotel. It was a tiring day with a lot of walking, but it was also very satisfying. At night we make preparations for our traveling day to Oslo.

Monday June 23rd 2008
Scripture of the day: Amos 5:14 Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.

A beautiful scripture for our traveling day. Today we leave for the airport. Then we pray before leaving and continually bless the people with God’s love. At 1:00pm we arrive at the airport, but only at 6:50pm we may check in for our flight. This time we use with working on our travel reports and by reading the Bible. With checking in we have a conversation with a Norwegian businessman. He thinks it’s a very special mission that we are on, making a cross shaped form over the world and he asks several things about this. We give him the business card with our weblog and say it will be available in English within some time.

We enter the plane at 8:50pm with half an hour delay we leave Moscow to go to Oslo. Now we can turn back our clocks again two hours. After a flight of 2.5 hours we arrive in Oslo and shortly after this we arrive at the hotel, which is located close to the airport, being very tired.

Second day of flying to North Cape. June 24th 2008.
Scripture of the day: Acts 4:31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

Today another day of traveling. We read the Bible a lot today. Before leaving we ask God to bless this day. Today we encounter some other obstacles.

The first plane changes from place of departure. Checking in goes very chaotic, but eventually we leave for Tromso. There we transfer at the relatively small airport. We will continue by plane to Honningsvag with a small helix plane. The plane that was ready to take us, was not able to take off because of technical difficulties. With more than one hour delay we do leave but with another helix plane.

It’s quite an experience such a helix plane. The propellers are literally fastened by elastics, which are removed right before take off. After a stop in Hammerfest we arrive at 11:00am in Honningsvag. The weathers clears, when we come flying in. It was very misty and rainy there for a long time. The airports are very small and are right beside lakes and mountains. So first it seems like you fly against a mountain and the following moment that you will crash in the water, but everything goes fine.

About 2500 people live on the Island of Honningsvag. At the whole island there are only four little towns and some houses that are in between with about 4500 people in total. Factually, there are only two main roads on the island. The whole night the sun is shining, which is quite a special experience.

Wednesday June 25th 2008
Scripture of the day: Psalm 81:1-3 Sing for joy to God our strength; shout aloud to the God of Jacob! Begin the music, strike the tambourine, play the melodious harp and lyre. Sound the ram's horn at the New Moon, and when the moon is full, on the day of our Feast.

Today we go to North Cape by bus to proclaim there Isaiah 40 – 54. It’s a clear call for the Northern Country to return back to the God of Abram, Isaac and Jacob. There is no other God. He is the Alpha and Omega. There are many people that are going to the North Cape. There are also several cruise ships in the harbor.

During our drive to the North Cape we proclaim the Bible scriptures. Today it’s very sunny. The bus driver tells us that it’s misty here for a long time now and that it snowed. Clearly God’s warmth and light shines over North Cape today. It’s a windy road through the mountains. Along the way we see elks. The area is very mountainous and there grows moss like grass. In the winter there lays two to six meters of snow. At the North Cape there is a visitors center, but we won’t go in. Rather we start proclaiming while walking along the coastline for more than one and a half hour. When we are finished we see the bus there ready to leave again. And yes, it starts raining again. It’s pouring from the sky. We have to think about our experience at Cape of Good Hope. Beautiful weather during our time of proclaiming and afterwards pouring rain. Being back in Honningsvag we go to the tourist information center to see if we can contact our prayergroup by our weblog. This time it works without any problems. We give them a short report of everything that happened.

Thursday June 26th 2008
Scripture of the day: Ephesians 3:16-19 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

God’s love for North Cape is inexhaustible. It calls his lost child to return back to the Father’s heart. It’s incomprehensible for mankind, and only to receive and accept. Today we cross the whole area with a local bus. We will proclaim the whole book of Songs of Solomon and Isaiah 55 to 61 and also John 17, the high priestly prayer and the Lord’s prayer. This as a response to God’s love for the Northern country, that also His will be done here.
From our hotel we have a view on the place where the cruiseships are. Every twelve hours another cruiseship arrives. The passengers then go in buses that drive to the North Cape. After returning the cruiseship leaves the harbor again.

This morning we receive another encouragement from God. One waitress said to me: ‘You are a lucky man.’ A lucky man to be able to work in God’s Kingdom in this way.
Because of the cold we buy a scarf and a cap. The weather during our bus trip is very cold and misty. The roads are poor and windy throughout mountainous area. With a lot of hairpin bends. So, now and then the view is very limited. We visit three coast villages. We proclaim, break down strongholds and bless with God’s love. In total it takes us about two and a half hours. When we come back the busdriver offers his apologies for the bad weather during the trip. Being back, we inform the supportgroup through our weblog www.samenindenaamvanjezus.nl. Afterwards we buy a ticket for the boat on which we will proclaim scriptures tomorrow.
Pretty tired we arrive at the hotel. The plane tickets for our way back are confirmed.

Friday June 27th 2008
Scripture of the day: Revelation 6:2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

Revelation 21: 6-7 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

Today is the last day we work on laying, as it were, the cross over the earth, with Jerusalem as center. We leave early today; getting out of bed at 6:00am. At 8:00am we take the local bus to the little fishers town Getchjevar. The weather is a little better than yesterday. But driving through the mountains, we go through low-hanging clouds. At 10:00am we step on a fishers boat on the water. It’s a ‘bird safari’. On the boat we proclaim over the water the following gospels: Matthew 27 and 29, Mark 15 and 16, Luke 23 and 24 and John 19 and 20. This proclaim over the Northern country. We give the birds as it were the live-giving words with them. There are more than one million birds situated in the area. It’s called the bird paradise. There are eagles too.

This boat trip takes about one and a half hours. We proclaim and bless for about one hour. We complete it with 1 Corinthians 13, God’s love for the Northern country. Back on land we speak the high priestly prayer (John 17) out over the entire Northern country. On our way back to the hotel the sun breaks through. God’s light shines over his creation. Around 4:00pm we are back at the hotel. We inform our supportgroup through the weblog and continue to prepare us for our travel back tomorrow.

 
Day of departure, Saturday June 28th
Scripture of the day: Psalm 18:30-33 As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God? It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.

This is also the scriptures we got from one of the people of our supportgroup as an encouragement. Today we have another day of flying with three transfers. Before departure we pray and ask a blessing for this day. And see, a document that we thought was lost, we found again. The times of waiting we fill with reading the Bible. During this trip I read the entire new testament. The trip goes smoothly and we get the right help from people. Again a wink from God.

A friendly looking steward in the last plane asks us if our name is ‘Baan’. We give him our card with the weblog on it. A little later he comes back to ask us if he got the card because of his last name. But we didn’t notice that his name ends with ‘de jesus’. He is from Brasil. It’s special to see how God gives us another wink.
After landing at Schiphol airport there is a little chaos with the suitcases and on our way back there is a traffic jam. Finally we arrive home at 2:00am at night.
The next day we take possession of our house and property again and dedicate it to God’s Kingdom again, we lay the cross over it and bless it.

Our next trip will be this fall to Jerusalem. The cross over the world will be finished than for us!

Hans & Corrie van der Have